One of Houston's top power companies is betting that customers who consider it a reliable electric provider will trust it to protect their homes, too.

Reliant - which recently announced it's now in the home security business - is among several power companies employing a broader strategy to market themselves not just as electric companies but as providers of more general home services.

Direct Energy and TXU Energy, for example, are making similar moves as growth in demand for their flagship product slows amid increasing efficiency in houses and appliances.

"We want to be more than an electric and natural gas provider for customers," said Sayed Khoja of Direct Energy Services, which sells electricity in the Houston area and is also a natural gas utility in other markets.

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In the case of Reliant, the launch of a home security product was born of a strategic pivot in parent company NRG Energy's business that occurred in late 2013, when it decided to take on a new effort to "power people's homes and lives," said Elizabeth Killinger president of NRG Retail.

"To really take it to the next level, we felt we needed to provide additional products and services," Killinger said.

Technology package

NRG's acquisition last year of Smith Monitoring, a security company, underpins its latest offering.

NRG is pitching the product not just as a security system but as a technology package using the security hardware as a gateway to give consumers remote control of electric components throughout their homes.

The set-up would let customers operate lights, thermostats and other electronics from their smartphones and tablets, on which they also could monitor security video and stills from cameras throughout the home. The system would let users set timers and monitor usage of various electronics as well. The idea is known as the "connected home."

"Do they need it? Maybe. Maybe not," said Dean Chuang, product manager at NRG, who showed off the technology at a house in Montrose that functions as an NRG showroom. "But I think a lot of people want it."

NRG began its home services strategy two years ago. Today, it installs or repairs equipment including air conditioning and heating units, plumbing components and garbage disposals. It also conducts home energy audits and leases and maintains solar panels.

"We don't just sell electricity," the company says in its marketing materials. "We solve problems."

Other Texas electric retailers are entering the space, too.

In 2010, Direct Energy acquired Clockwork Home Services, which has brands including Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating and Mr. Sparky electricians.

Last year, Direct Energy began offering its retail electric customers protection and maintenance plans largely serviced through those brands.

TXU Energy offers non-energy products as well, including warranty services that cover appliances, heating and air conditioning units, and plumbing. Michael Patterson, a TXU spokesman, said the company is considering other non-electricity services in the future.

By selling non-electric services, TXU is able to leverage its existing links with customers who already consider it a reliable company.

"We want to be a long, deep relationship with customers," Patterson said.

Little differentiation

The trend comes at a time when residential energy consumption is growing at a much slower pace than housing. From 1980 to 2009, the number of U.S. households increased by 33 percent, and their total square footage grew by more than 50 percent. But residential energy consumption grew less than 9 percent in that same period, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The competitive landscape for energy companies is especially tough in Texas, where dozens of companies compete to sell the same product - electricity - with little to differentiate themselves beyond price and customer service.

Given that dynamic, electric companies may be trying their hand at home services to improve their "stickiness" with customers, said Travis Miller, a utilities analyst with Morningstar.

In Texas, it's easy for electric customers to switch power providers, so offering extra services might be a way for companies like Reliant to keep customers in the fold, Miller said. The idea would be to make the company so important to customers' lives that they wouldn't think about changing electric providers.

"It's quite costly for (electric companies ) to go out and acquire customers, when you think about profit margins versus advertising costs," Miller said. "The stickier you can make the customer relationship, the more profitable you can make your business, in theory."

The concept is similar to telecommunications companies that bundle phone, Internet and cable, betting that customers who rely on the company for multiple services are more likely to stay on.

'We're reliable'

Some analysts have speculated that the same thinking might prompt telecommunications providers to get into the retail electric sector.

Reliant and other electric providers pursuing home services also are trying to manage their brands as some electric customers consider ditching power companies in favor of roof-top solar, said Toby Shea, an analyst at Moody's Investors Service. Maintaining home services might be a way to stay in customers' good graces.

"They'll be very interested in having that customer relationship," Shea said. "They'll want to be the first ones at your door, saying 'don't buy from the no-name company you don't know. We've been doing all of this work for you, and you know we're reliable.' "